A CONVICTED football hooligan secured a job at a high school before his criminal history was rumbled.

David Bradwell Walsh, from Warrington, has a detailed record of offending which includes assaulting a steward at Everton Football Club in 2007.

He also has previous convictions for drink driving, driving without a licence and while disqualified, and the theft of a pair of women’s shoes from a town centre shop.

Despite the 51-year-old’s past he was appointed as an English supply teacher at Rainhill High School in St Helens in 2008.

The defendant was found out after St Helens Council carried out a Criminal Records Bureau check when he applied for a full-time position.

He has now been banned from teaching for two years by the General Teaching Council.

It ruled Walsh had brought the profession into ‘serious disrepute’ and he was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.

Paul Bird, chairman of the GTC committee, said: “The allegations we have found proved are matters of serious behaviour on the part of Mr Walsh.

“We have concluded that Mr Walsh has little insight as to his behaviour and the possible consequences.”

A spokesman from St Helens Council said that Walsh was employed by a supply teaching agency who had carried out a satisfactory CRB check.

He added that the offences had taken place after his initial CRB check with the agency, and that the struck off teacher had failed to disclose them to the council.

Walsh, who said he was ‘not proud’ of his convictions, can apply to re-register with the GTC in two years.